Xbox have announced their latest peripheral, and in a break from the norm, it's going smaller rather than bigger. The Xbox Nano Controller has opened pre-orders and will debut later this year, becoming the smallest Xbox controller yet, with some other surprising features.

The Xbox Nano Controller is their smallest, full-fledged controller yet. It features all the same inputs you've come to expect, as well as a reprogrammable action button. And, rather interestingly, it's also fully compatible with mobile! It's both that compatibility and the deal they're offering that makes this such an interesting product.

This comes after Microsoft very publicly downplayed the impact of Game Pass' new, rather harsh, limits on playtime. Game Pass will soon have a limit of 15 hours per month of playtime at the highest level, that being Ultimate. This change was controversial, to say the least, and I've mentioned it could signal them stepping away from mobile as a new platform for growth.

So, a new mobile- and smart TV-compatible controller might seem an odd choice. It suggests one of three options: the Nano was planned before these Game Pass changes, that Xbox don't anticipate mobile or smart TVs being a major platform, or that they hope the limited playtime won't discourage players on platforms that can't natively play Xbox games.

It all points to a rather odd use-case scenario, outside of people wanting a smaller, portable controller for couch co-op. But there are plenty of options out there. And if you want a small mobile controller, you can't get much smaller than the CRKD Atom , which I reviewed a few years ago and which just had a brand-new version set for release with the CRKD Atom+ !

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